Boko Haram slaugthering males in Bama –Borno senator
The Senator representing Borno Central in the National Assembly, Ahmed
Zannah, on Wednesday raised the alarm that Boko Haram insurgents had
started massacring teenage and adult males in its drive to expand its caliphate in the North –East.
Zannah, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, also
insisted that the insurgents had taken over Bama, a town less than 78
kilomitres from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
The
Senator, who is a native of Bama, spoke just as Reuters news agency
reported that the Islamist fundamentalist sect seized Bara, a
community in Yobe State.
Recounting how he lost two of his
nephews to the Monday/Tuesday attacks on Bama, Zannah said, “As I am
speaking to you, Bama has been captured and the insurgents are on the
prowl for any male on sight.
“Everyone is a target as long as you are a male but for now, women and children are being spared.”
He challenged the military authorities and the Borno State Government
to take the media to Bama to cross-check his claims on Tuesday that
Bama had been captured by Boko Haram.
The lawmaker said,
“Both the military and Borno State Government are lying to Nigerians. To
prove that I am the one misinforming the public, they should take
journalists to the town to cross-check the fact.”
We’re in control of Bama –Military source
Efforts by The PUNCH to speak with the Director of Defence
Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, on Zannah’s claim yielded no
results as calls to his mobile telephone did not connect.
But
a top military officer told one of our correspondents that the troops
were as of Tuesday night still in firm control of Bama.
He said the insurgents were repelled from Bama with fighter jets and ground troops of the Nigerian Army.
The officer, who did not want to be named because he was not permitted
to speak on the matter, added that the military had since deployed more
men and weapons in Bama.
He said, “The soldiers are in control
of Bama and they are in the barracks now. Even the soldiers that came to
Maiduguri from Bama who were at Sector 9 and Sector 10 are back there.
“The commanders have also deployed more men; more arms and ammunition
have also arrived so the soldiers are in the barracks now.
“Last night, two Air Force fighter jets and ground troops were used for
the operation which led to their being dislodged from the town.
“It is not correct to say that only soldiers are there; Not all the
residents fled to Maiduguri, some that relocated temporarily are back to
their houses.
“The air strike affected only military and security formations where the insurgents launched attacks.”
The officer threw Zannah’s challenge back at him to take journalists to the town to verify his claims.
He said that in a situation like this, it was easy for politicians to be involved in all “manner of cheap talks.”
Another security source said that some soldiers who retreated from Bama
when they ran out of ammunition and were quartered at sectors 9 and 10
had all gone back on Wednesday.
The source said that the soldiers were in control of the Bama barracks and other security formations within the troubled town.
The PUNCH gathered that tension was very high in Bama and Maiduguri
when rumours filtered in that the insurgents sent a message that
they would launch an attack on Maiduguri.
Bama attacks force Shettima back from Sudan, UK
The battle for Bama made Governor Kashim Shettima to cut short his official visit to Sudan and the United Kingdom.
Shettima, who left the state late last week was expected to visit
some school authorities and over 70 students recently sponsored by
his administration to study Medicine and Petroleum Geo-Sciences in UK
and Sudan.
It was gathered that the governor, on returning to
the country, held crucial meetings in Abuja with appropriate authorities
over the happenings in Bama and the rest of the state.
He was
also said to have approved the formation of a committee to coordinate
the distribution of relief materials to the victims of attacks in the
state.
According to sources, the governor was scheduled to leave Abuja for Maiduguri on Wednesday evening .
A former media aide to the governor, Mallam Isa Gusau, said,
“Shettima returned mainly to provide needed leadership, be with his
people, build public confidence, coordinate relief for victims, step up
co-funding and provide psychological support to the military.”
Shehu of Borno calls for three-day fasting
Also on Wednesday, the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar El-Kanemi,
called on all Muslims faithful in the troubled state to immediately
commence a three-day fasting and prayers for the return of peace to
the state.
El-Kanemi also urged Christians in the state not
to relent in their prayers so that the insurgents who invaded Bama
could be warded off.
A statement by the Secretary of the Borno
Emirate Council, Alhaji Zanna Laisu Kazalma, quoted the monarch, who is
also the Chairman of the state Traditional Rulers Association, as
advising that the fasting and prayers should start on Thursday (today)
and end on Saturday .
The statement read in part, “The Umma is
equally urged to offer special prayers in all mosques and recitation of
Khalimat Shahada ‘La Ilaha Illallah’ continuously during the fasting
period. It is also urged that each and every Muslim individually and
collectively offer Sadaqat to the needy and the underprivileged,
especially to those internally displaced persons in various camps.
“In the same vein, the Royal Father also urged the Christian community
in the state not to relent in their continuous prayers for peace and
security to prevail in Borno State and Nigeria as a whole.”
Boko Haram takes over two Yobe villages
In Yobe State, the insurgents seized Bara and Gulani, two communities without noticeable presence of the military.
They also killed two policemen after an attack on Toro Local
Government Area. The policemen were reportedly shot and killed and
their guns stolen by the attackers at a mining station in Magama Gumau.
“The militants went preaching in the whole town asking people to leave
government work and join them to do the work of Allah,” Musa Abdullahi, a
trader who escaped from Bara told Reuters.
In Gulani, the insurgents allegedly occupied the local council secretariat complex and the lodge on Tuesday night.
According to residents of the community, the attack recorded no death
in the town as the insurgents claimed they came to preach Islam.
Gulani is a border town with Buni/Yadi, which is believed to have
already been captured by the insurgents. It is about 164 kilometres
west of Damaturu, the state capital.
A resident, Bukar Isa,
told journalists on the telephone on Wednesday that “no one of us was
killed during the Tuesday invasion.
“The insurgents have taken
over our secretariat complex and lodge by noon, before telling us that
they stormed the town not to kill, but preach and do the work of Allah
(God), according to the Quran,” he said.
246 Nigerian soldiers, customs officers flee to Cameroon
The Cameroon Radio Television however reported on Wednesday that 246
Nigerian soldiers and customs officers fled to the far north region of
Cameroon during a gun battle with Boko Haram insurgents.
About
480 Nigerian soldiers fighting the sect members had on August 25 ran
into Cameroon in what Nigerian military authorities described as
“tactical manoeuvre”
Although the radio/tv station did not name
the Nigerian border town where the battle started, it reported that 40
insurgents who also fled to Fotokol, the Cameroonian side of the
border, were killed when they also engaged the gendarmes in combat.
Two vehicles belonging to the militants were destroyed while a gendarme
was injured during the three-hour battle which took place on Monday.
It said the 246 Nigerian soldiers and customs officers had been
officially handed over to the commander of the Nigerian military
operations in the area.
The radio/ tv station quoted official
sources as having said the clash was a fallout of the fighting between
Nigerian forces and the insurgents at Bama.
The fighting, according to the report, has led to the influx of refugees into the far North region of Cameroon.
Nigeria, others want Boko Haram’s funding sources blocked
Earlier on Wednesday, foreign ministers of Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon,
Chad and Niger Republic as well as representatives of the United States,
Britain, France, Canada and China met in Abuja over strategies to
curtail Boko Haram.
The meeting also had officials of the
African Union, the United Nations, the European Union, ECOWAS and the
Organisation of Islamic Countries in attendance.
It resolved at
the end of the talks that Nigeria, its neigbours and other partners
should ensure that arms supply and funding to Boko Haram were cut off.
It also regretted that in spite of efforts by the Federal Government
and its international partners, the over 200 schoolgirls abducted
since April by the sect were still in captivity.
Nigeria and
its neighbours had agreed during a recent Paris mini-summit on a
regional plan of action to combat Boko Haram to find the schoolgirls.
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Aminu Wali, who briefed
journalists, said the parley underscored the need to effectively address
the sources of funding for and the supply of weapons to Boko Haram.
“The meeting called for greater cooperation of the international
community to assist in tracking these sources with a view to putting an
end to these practices and all forms of illegal transfer of arms and
ammunition,” he said.
According to him, the participants also
called for strict implementation of relevant UN and other international
sanctions against terrorist groups, especially Boko Haram.
It
also called for a redoubling of efforts on the part of all concerned
given the critical importance of intelligence sharing in the fight
against terrorism.
The minister said the participants urged
support for the implementation of multi-dimensional measures adopted by
the Nigerian government to combat terrorism and called on regional
governments and multilateral development institutions to intensify
socio-economic cooperation aimed at poverty eradication, economic
upliftment and inclusive development.
On the Chibok girls,
the meeting reiterated the need to mobilise support to end their
captivity and called for support to end sexual violence.
Wali
had in his address at the event called on the international
community not to allow Boko Haram to establish fresh links with another
terror group called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
He described Boko Haram’s claim of establishing an Islamic Caliphate in a few parts of the North as ludicrous and untenable.
The minister stressed that the Federal Government would never surrender to any terror group.
He said, “As the Nigerian government confronts this challenge, what
bothers us most at this time can be reflected in a number of posers that
I will like to share with this meeting: Who are the sponsors of Boko
Haram terrorist campaigns? Who are those funding the insurgency? Where
are the sources of the sophisticated arms and ammunition being used by
the terrorists? Who are those seeking to re-define the territory of
Nigeria and Africa in the 21st century?”
I’m ready for any panel –Ex-Borno governor
A former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has
described as unfounded, the accusation by an Australian hostage
negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, that he was a sponsor of Boko Haram.
Sheriff, at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, also denied that a
political group he founded metamorphosed into the militant Islamic
sect.
He said that he was ready to face any panel over the issue, adding that he would sue the Australian negotiator.
Davis was reported to be involved in a negotiation between Boko Haram
and the Federal Government for the release of the Chibok girls.
The Australian, in an interview last Thursday, said he had been
informed by Boko Haram commanders that there were prominent
politicians who had been sources of funding to Boko Haram.
Davis had said, “First thing to do is to arrest the former Governor
Sheriff. Former Governor Sheriff has been funding this for years. He is
satisfied that he will be picked up and he has now switched to the
ruling party (Peoples Democratic Party) in the hope this will give him
protection.
“That guy is really a bad guy and he is known to be
corrupt and why the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) has
not picked him up is anybody’s guess.”
Denying the allegation,
the former governor said, “I have already instructed my lawyers to sue
the Australian. We will track him anywhere he is so that our lawyers
will get to him.”
Sheriff also described as false, an
allegation that a group, ECOMOG, he founded, when he was governor,
metamorphosed into Boko Haram
He said that a former Minister of
the Federal Capital Territory, Gen. Jeremiah Useni (retd.), who was
reported to have made the statement, had denied it.
9/04/2014
Boko Haram slaugthering males in Bama –Borno senator
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